Writes Chip Ahoy (in the comments to the thread about the "Obama's America" movie). I thought this was a nice topic, this topic of niceness.
Is there some movie that could help Chip Ahoy be a nicer person? The answers don't need to be Chip Ahoy specific. I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with a movie that oriented me toward greater niceness. I can think of movies that might help you become a better person, but it's usually in the sense of becoming bolder, more independent, more resolutely opposed to evil and oppression. But nicer? Can you think of a movie in which the central character, someone you identify with, is especially polite and the politeness isn't basically something he must overcome in order to succeed.
A-ha! The answer: Every Shirley Temple movie.
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«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 235 of 235Oh, I almost forgot. I've Heard the Mermaids Singing is a wonderful Canadian indie from 1987 celebrating an "organzationally impaired" young woman who works as a temp for an art gallery and does photography in her spare time. Past that it's hard to describe.
Worth seeing.
The Lives of Others
Song of Bernadette
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
The Scarlet Pimpernel
A Tale of Two Cities
This is out of context, you know. If presented with an chance to see D'Souza's 2016 I would rather have it's opposite. Which is to say, I'll create the opportunity for neither. But thank your for all these suggestions. That is really sweet of you.
Borat.
That's-ah nice-ah.
Nice-ah to meet-ah you.
Insatiable.
Marilyn Chambers was so nice to all those poor guys that didn't have any clothes to wear.
sydney, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" is one of my favorite movies but I'm not sure how it promotes "niceness" rather than cynicism. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend".
"The Pride of the Yankees" is a great movie but I think you should see "Spartacus."
Bobby loved to reenact the bathtub scene with Jerry Kenny back in the day.
I think you would like that Chip.
In no particular order:
Babe
Tender Mercies
Shawshank Redemption
To Kill a Mockingbird
It's a Wonderful Life
Moonstruck
Strangely, both Godfather I & II
Shirley Temple, I just never connected with. Ditto All's Quiet on the Western Front. Instead, I'm trying to get a copy of Wooden Crosses.
Oh, Beaches also, but it's a chick flick.
In no particular order:
Babe
Tender Mercies
Shawshank Redemption
To Kill a Mockingbird
It's a Wonderful Life
Moonstruck
Strangely, both Godfather I & II
Shirley Temple, I just never connected with. Ditto All's Quiet on the Western Front. Instead, I'm trying to get a copy of Wooden Crosses.
Strongly agree about "Ikiru."
"Song of Bernadette" is actually the first movie I thought of, but then I rejected it, because I didn't think "niceness" was quite what was happening.
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows.
Sargent York--showed me I could still be a Christian, and defend others.
To Hell and Back--showed me heroism doesn't need to blow its own horn.(Audey Murphey's biography)
Harvey--I'd just be repeating what's already been said.
True Grit--taught me that no matter how far someone has sunk, they can still be redeemed.(Kim Darby's character redeeming Rooster Cogburn)
And if Chip A got any nicer it would start to lap over onto Chip S, and give us all diabetes.
None of our problems are solved by everyone just being nicer. We're all different enough that simply being nice ultimately breeds nasty cases of resentment.
We're best off when we can engage in direct conflict and work through it without losing ourselves in the process. Being nice in the face of hostility is just avoidance.
It sounds like D'Souza is engaging in conflict rather than be 'nice' concerning Obama, the default condition for much of the press. I think he's doing so constructively by eschewing polemics in favor of more substantive reasoning. Being nice is at times completely counter to doing the right thing.
"If presented with an chance to see D'Souza's 2016 I would rather have it's opposite."
That was Chip Ahoy speaking up there.
Anyone here care to take a stab at what the "opposite" to D'Souza's movie might be in Chip Ahoy's mind?
Cause you sure as shootin' know it isn't what YOU think it is!
Ha ha The WONDER of Chip Ahoy!
Rocky
Screw you, Chip, you movie ignoramus!!
Ha — Just kidding. I wasn't being nice.
Chip Ahoy said...
This is out of context, you know. If presented with an chance to see D'Souza's 2016 I would rather have it's opposite. Which is to say, I'll create the opportunity for neither. But thank your for all these suggestions. That is really sweet of you.
Yeah. That's great.
Would you watch my bike while I take a leak?
Leaving a PUPPY in charge of your bike while you take a leak?
Ha ha
Somehow that makes TOTAL sense for a guy who calls himself "Rusty".
T man beat me to it. Babette's Feast would be perfect for Chip's cooking sensibilities.
(PS It heartens me to see so many who recommend Local Hero.)
I remember seeing Forrest Gump and being moved to try to be a better person. Shortly thereafter I realized improvement was neither necessary or likely.
OK, well Althouse mentioned Shirley Temple movies, and I immediatly related and agreed!
I grew up on Shirley Temple movies, and dammit, if she was not the sweetest orphan you ever met, then name a substitute?
Course now that I am *cough* "older", I wonder what was it about Shirley Temple that always had her STARRING in the role of "orphan"?
Over and over and over again.
Still don't know the answer to that, but I sure did appreciate my own, as well as any and all parents Shirley Temple never had in her movies.
Hollywood!
Thanks for the lesson in being a nicer kid for my parents back then. Made me a better adult, for sure.
And Shirley Temple?
Have you met my friend, Chip Ahoy?
Pollyanna, the one movie I can think of that specifically concerns itself with promoting "niceness."
GWTW for the stark contrast between the wages of nice (Melanie) and not so nice (Scarlet). Seriously, has there ever been anyone nicer than Melanie Wilkes??
I used to watch Mr. Roger's neighborhood with my ex-SO's two year old daughter, Dana ...just watching Fred Rogers regularly actually did make me change my behaviour. To nicer, oddly enough.
Look at the Temple movie for what's changed since 1935 and what's the same.
Changed: There are a LOT of orphans. Birth rates and death rates are high - no antibiotics or any medical care as we understand it.
Changed: An officious jerk is carrying on that the children must be quiet at mealtimes (why?)
The Same: Now the officious jerk would be carrying on that the kids are eating food that actually tastes good instead of "Healthful Alternatives". Human nature never changes. But why do people enjoy bullying children? It's an interesting question.
Penny said...
Leaving a PUPPY in charge of your bike while you take a leak?
Ha ha
Somehow that makes TOTAL sense for a guy who calls himself "Rusty"
I'm pretty sure Chips is a real person, but it IS the internet.
I'm referred to as 'Rusty' because I work with metal. Some of which is oxidized.
Instead of being nice to each other, something I find hard to do, howsabout we just be polite.
Please.
So many interesting movie options on this thread, how about a song that helps you be a nicer person?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cFm2a5vykc
Or anything from The Nice.
The movie Singing in The Rain which incidentally has a chief character a 'Miss Seldin,' the only time I have seen that name other than that of the former Chief of Internal Medicine... Donald Seldin, born Jewish in New York.
Do you know what a 50 caliber machine gun does to the human body?
You need a movie to know the answer?
I'll add one more:
None But the Lonely Heart
I forgot to look earlier...Yes, my husband and I both love The Apostle. No one is beyond redemption, me included. It reminds me to treat people I meet more gently. I think that is a good thing.
Totally agree with IaWL. And from the same general era, The Bishop's Wife makes me a better wife. Plus Cary Grant.
Try any or all of the Thin Man movies, with Myrna Loy as the very lovely and quite supportive wife of the tipsy detective played by William Powell.
As Nick and Nora Charles, the pair combine wit, elan and sleuthing among both the highbrow and lowdown of society, demonstrating that good manners and charm are not incompatible with solving heinous crimes.
And I could never stand the saccharine overdose of the little curly kid, although her dancing was impressive for a youngster.
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